Forest 2021-2022
This project explores the connection between an area of undisturbed woodland and the surrounding human world. Explored through photographs, video, sound, sculpture and performance. The aim is to capture the feeling of this undisturbed woodland and recreate that within the human world.
The heading photograph shows a monolith typically found inside woodland environments. This project recreates these outside of forest environments, juxtaposing them within the context of the human world.
Inside the Forest.
These photographs document the forest as I found it at the start of the project in June 2021. The exploration of this space happened because there was a fence down between this piece of woodland and the surrounding world almost encouraging trespass. The forest is a surreal and beautiful space undisturbed by humans except for traces of human remains in the form of plastics, metals and debris.
There is a family of deer which greeted me on my first exploration. these are mostly unseen in the rest of the work, I still wonder if they abandoned the space due to my intrusion, if they moved on or we simply missed each other - occupying the same space at different times.
The Monoliths.
Through the process of engagement I began creating sculptures from natural materials in the forest.
I discovered a tree surrounded by plastic packaging in the forest which had been dumped there. This prompted the idea to create these sculptures outside of the forest in the human world using the natural materials. exploring the idea of the pieces of undisturbed woodland existing in the world in a metaphorical sense.
The Exhibitions
(First) is a series of photographs and a short video of the installed work in the forest.
(Second) Is a series of images of the work installed in the Grosvenor Gallery in Manchester.
